POSTPARTUM.

SEPT 24, 2019

I saw a bunch of my fave bloggers, podcasters, influencers, boss babes, whatever you want to call them at the Life After Birth Project last week in Toronto.

It got me thinking about what postpartum really is....

I mean, if you really think about it, postpartum is pretty much the rest of your life.

It's not like, after a year, you never gave birth.

You had a prepartum life, pregnancy, now postpartum.

The misconception that postpartum is "temporary", maybe comes from those pictures of the new mom, tired looking with messy hair. The photo is just a few days after giving birth that she's still sporting what looks like a baby bump. The picture comes with the hashtag "3 days postpartum". Or, the other spectrum of the mom, in yoga pants, flat tummy and sports bra. Again, a hashtag, "4 months postpartum". We start to believe postpartum is just how we look physically on the outside, in our most raw or accomplished forms.

Postpartum is so much more than just an outwardly physical appearance.

It's internal physical changes, & most times mental & emotional changes.

Our entire bodies, & souls to be dramatic, are forever changed after birth, whether we get back our flat tummy or forever carry our new mummy tummy. There's so much we CAN'T see that makes us forever postpartum.

Some of the mental/emotional, outward & internal physical changes I've had since giving birth:

Dark & sad feelings prior & during my period. I never experienced this before birth & it doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon...

The teeny tiny boobs I had prior to birth, are now even smaller after breastfeeding. None of my B cup bras fit, so I can only assume I'm now an A cup.

The constant "am I doing a good job" anxiety.

Pride. To the extreme. Pride because I grew that human. Pride because I birthed that human like a damn rockstar. Pride, well because look at all the things that tiny human is doing!

Brain exhaustion from just being "on" all the time.

An insane amount of love. A love that is bursting at the seams of your heart.

So, here I am.

2 years into my lifetime of postpartum.

Forever evolving, physically and mentally.